Windows delay problems

[Josh]

I am working on a 2000 machine with sp4. At work, every
computer in our company that is running Windows 2000 has a
serious delay whenever I try to right click on an icon in
order to check the properties of the program. I thought
it might be due to the network, but I unplugged my
computer from the network and tested it and the exact same
delay occured. Is this a normal problem with windows 2000
or could it be something else? Thanks

 

[ADCB]

I am working on a 2000 machine with sp4. At work, every
computer in our company that is running Windows 2000 has a
serious delay whenever I try to right click on an icon in
order to check the properties of the program. I thought
it might be due to the network, but I unplugged my
computer from the network and tested it and the exact same
delay occured. Is this a normal problem with windows 2000
or could it be something else? Thanks

I posted something on this a week or so back but unfortunatly noone
seems to have an answer. just out of matter of interest they are not
compaq machines are they?

 

[Josh]

Most are compaqs, but others are brand new Dells so I
don't think it has anything to do with the PC's brand.

 

[Colon Terminus]

This is a known problem and has been addressed on this newsgroup many
times.

The problem seems to be related to SP4. Many people reported that by
removing SP4 and reverting back to SP3 (or 2) their problem was solved.

 

[Rick]

If you're running Novell client software on the machines (ver. 4.8x
or 4.9x), look back in this newsgroup a few weeks and you'll find
the fix.

Rick

 

[ADCB]

If you're running Novell client software on the machines (ver. 4.8x
or 4.9x), look back in this newsgroup a few weeks and you'll find
the fix.

Rick

Unfortunatly my news server does not go back too far and i cannot find
anything on this particular subject of the novell client. would it be
possible for you to copy the info in a reply to this.

much appreciated

 

[Rick]

Unfortunatly my news server does not go back too far and i cannot find
anything on this particular subject of the novell client. would it be
possible for you to copy the info in a reply to this.

much appreciated

Here you go:

(OK, it's not a fix; more of a crude hack which works around the problem.
It's had minimal testing, works for me, use at your own risk, etc. Hope it
helps somebody out there.)

Description of the problem: Right-click over any shortcut (or quick-launch
toolbar icon). It takes about 10-25 seconds before the context menu pops
up. Try again, on the same or another shortcut, and it's fast. Wait about
5 minutes, and it is slow again. It happens on Windows 2000 SP4, but not
on Windows 2000 SP3. It happens with Netware Client 4.83, or 4.83+sp2, or
4.83+sp2+"update e". If you remove the Netware Client, it goes away.

What seems to be happening, based on Ethereal traces, is that the Netware
Client is trying to resolve the short-cut target's drive letter (usually
"C") as a network name. In my case, it tries IPX SAP, SLP, and Bindery,
making multiple requests (even though it gets negative replies, but that's
another problem) until it finally gives up.

My fix is based on Novell TID # 10065560 item 6, which tells how to
pre-load the Bad Server Name Cache with permanent entries for servers you
don't want to try to resolve. But I'm abusing this to preload the cache
with the letters A through Z. (I hope you don't have any servers on your
network with these names.) This appears to work around the bizarre behavior
of NWC 4.83 with Win2K SP4 trying to resolve drive letters on short-cuts as
if they were network names.

If you want to try the fix, import the .reg file below, or do it
manually as follows: Using regedt32, create a REG_MULTI_SZ value
called "BadServer" under the key:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetwareWorkstation\Parameters
The data is the letters A through Z, each on a separate line.
Note: The change does not take effect until you reboot.

======== start badserver.reg ==========
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetwareWorkstation\Parameters]
"BadServer"=hex(7):41,00,00,00,42,00,00,00,43,00,00,00,44,00,00,00,45,00,00,00,\
46,00,00,00,47,00,00,00,48,00,00,00,49,00,00,00,4a,00,00,00,4b,00,00,00,4c,\
00,00,00,4d,00,00,00,4e,00,00,00,4f,00,00,00,50,00,00,00,51,00,00,00,52,00,\
00,00,53,00,00,00,54,00,00,00,55,00,00,00,56,00,00,00,57,00,00,00,58,00,00,\
00,59,00,00,00,5a,00,00,00,00,00
======== end badserver.reg ==========